Christmas Shopping in 1972

Pittsburgh’s Downtown sidewalks were bustling and dressed in holiday style on December 22, 1972. It was a Friday and Ed Hood of McKees Rocks, pictured here lugging three boxes on his back, bought Christmas gifts for seven children.

This image, taken by Pittsburgh Press photographer Edward A. Frank, appeared on the Friday front page of the newspaper.

The picture may have been taken in front of the long gone Candy Rama, a business located at Fifth Avenue and Wood Street. In the top right corner of the image, the letters C A N are visible. The Candy Rama was a mecca for Pittsburgh shoppers who loved caramel cremes and peanut butter meltaways. The latter were made by Gardner’s Candies of Tyrone, Pennsylvania.

Stories on that day’s front page carried news of the United States military’s air war in North Vietnam and the safe release of a kidnapped Texas bride named Amanda Dealey, the daughter in law of Joseph Dealey, president of the Dallas Morning News. Her new husband, Joe M. Dealey Jr., gave her an early Christmas gift — a single strand of pearls.